Teach Like Finland: 33 Simple Strategies for Joyful Classrooms pdfdrive com

Welcome the experts
While I taught in Helsinki, I noticed that my Finnish colleagues seemed to invite
one another’s classes into their classrooms somewhat regularly. These gestures
were often small, but they seemed meaningful, bringing joy to them and their
students.
Once, one of the physics teachers invited my class into one of the middle
school science labs for an introductory lesson on electricity. Graciously, he
taught this lesson during one of his free blocks. On another occasion, I was
teaching a lesson on the pH scale, and I hoped to use the same lab. After school,
another of my middle school colleagues helped me to prepare materials. That
afternoon, she also taught me a little lesson on chemical compounds, which I
used the following day.
When I felt uncomfortable about teaching a biology unit on sex, a female
colleague volunteered to host a private Q&A with my female students in her
classroom, while I met with my male students. Beforehand, she helped me to set
up a question box, where the children could ask anonymous questions about sex.
Later, the same colleague invited me into her classroom, where I shared about
my experiences living in the United States. Her students were studying the
concept of budgeting and seemed shocked to hear that, during my last year of
living in the Boston area, one-third of my gross income went toward paying for

---

health insurance.
Predictably, I wasn’t comfortable with the practice of welcoming my
colleagues into my classroom until I had seen this strategy modeled. But by the
end of my second year of teaching in Helsinki, I had become a convert. I invited
several of my colleagues into my classroom throughout the year, and they spent
hours of their time investing in my students’ learning. Sometimes they visited
during their regular teaching hours, while on other occasions they came during
their free time. It wasn’t difficult to arrange—ultimately, all I needed to do was
invite them.
I found that the more I welcomed experts into my classroom, the more I
began to view myself as a resource manager who could design great learning
experiences for my class by tapping into talents outside of my own. This new
way of thinking took pressure off of my shoulders, because I didn’t need to be
some jack-of-all-trades.
If we teachers want to combat this scarcity-minded worldview, I think we
need to start recognizing and benefiting from the expertise of others (inside and
outside our school communities). The strategy welcome the experts affirms the
abundance-oriented worldview.
Inviting your colleagues into your classroom, I’ve found, is a good starting
point. And given that you work together in the same building, it should be fairly
easy to arrange. From the examples I provided earlier, you know that this kind of
collaboration doesn’t need to be anything elaborate. Perhaps you have a
colleague who has visited Mexico before and you’re teaching a unit on that
country. Could you ask that teacher to share a few photos from her trip and a few
insightful stories? Or perhaps you want your students to keep a journal, and you
have a colleague who’s a passionate writer, who has been filling notebooks with
his own thoughts for years—you could ask him into the classroom to talk about
the benefits of journaling and share his advice on how to get started.
While welcoming other colleagues into your classroom may seem like an
unnecessary extra, I think you’ll find that it’s worth the small effort. If you’re
concerned about one another’s time, consider a “teacher swap”: while a teacher
is serving as the expert in your classroom, you could serve as the expert in that
colleague’s classroom. Once, two of my Helsinki colleagues exchanged roles in
this way: the first grade classroom teacher, Paula Havu, switched places with a
fifth grade classroom teacher. I spoke with Paula about this experience, and she
recalled it wistfully.
Welcoming fellow teachers (and other experts, such as parents) into your
classroom sends a message to your students that you’re looking to learn from
others. And if you’re like me, cultivating this type of attitude makes it easier to
view students as experts, too. I asked Paula to describe what brings children joy

---

view students as experts, too. I asked Paula to describe what brings children joy
in the classroom, and she spoke to the importance of giving kids more ownership
by letting them teach sometimes. “They are experts in many areas, so using them
more in the classroom instead of you being the leader . . . the kids get more
excited, they have choice.”
Before coming to Finland, I had embraced the idea of bringing experts into
the classroom, but my vision, I admit, was quite narrow. Often I’d overlook the
experts within the walls of my school building. During my first year in Helsinki,
if you recall, I spent a significant amount of effort getting Finnish Olympic and
Paralympic athletes to visit during those first weeks of school. In hindsight, it
would have been much more efficient if I first tapped into the resources within
my school community. These days, I still believe that welcoming experts outside
the school can be valuable, but I think it’s best to start by considering the people
around you. Not only will their contributions benefit your classroom, but also
it’s likely that your invitation will affirm their expertise—it’s a win-win.